Hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign tourists are set to flood Rio for the World Cup.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said that her government accepted people’s right to demonstrate during the World Cup but warned that it would not tolerate violence.

With less than 30 days to go to the tournament, military police deployed to the streets of Rio to protect a trickle of buses that were running in the face of a strike by bus drivers, although angry drivers still damaged 74 buses and there was travel chaos.

That came after a series of walkouts in Rio and other cities in other public sectors – including the police – and threats of general protests during the World Cup, which begins June 12, from people unhappy about the huge financial outlay for the tournament.

Last year’s Confederations Cup was dogged by huge protests, some of them violent.

“Whoever wishes to demonstrate may do so, but not so as to hurt the Cup. Brazil is a democratic country… but democracy does not signify vandalism or damaging the country as a whole,” Rousseff yesterday said in the northern city of Ceara.